Introduction

Purpose:
The Teaching Goals Inventory (TGI) is a self-assessment of instructional goals. Its purpose is threefold: (1) to help college teachers become more aware of what they want to accomplish in individual courses; (2) to help faculty locate Classroom Assessment Techniques they can adapt and use to assess how well they are achieving their teaching and learning goals; and (3) to provide a starting point for discussion of teaching and learning goals among colleagues.

1. Select a Course to Analyze.

Please select ONE course you are currently teaching. Respond to each item on the inventory in relation to that particular course. (Your responses might be quite different if you were asked about your overall teaching and learning goals, for example, or the appropriate instructional goals for your discipline.)

Please select ONE course you are planning or teaching:

2. Select your Primary Role as a Teacher.

For this course, how do you see your primary role as a teacher?

Teaching students facts and principles of the subject matter.

Providing a role model for students.

Helping students develop higher-order thinking skills.

Preparing students for jobs/careers.

Fostering student development and personal growth.

Helping students develop basic learning skills.

3. Take the Survey.

Please rate the importance of each of the fifty-one goals listed below to the specific course you have selected. Assess each goal’s importance to to what you deliberately aim to have your students accomplish, rather than the goal's general worthiness or overall importance to your institution’s mission. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers; only personally more or less accurate ones. You may want to read quickly through all fifty-one goals before rating their relative importance.

In relation to the course you are focusing on, indicate whether each goal you rate is:

(5) Essential

a goal you always/nearly always try to achieve

(4) Very Important

a goal you often try to achieve

(3) Important

a goal you sometimes try to achieve

(2) Unimportant

a goal you rarely try to achieve

(1) Not Applicable

a goal you never try to achieve

Rate the impotance of each goal to what you aim to have students accomplish in your course.

1. Develop ability to apply principles and generalizations already learned to new problems and situations.

5

4

3

2

1

2. Develop analytic skills.

5

4

3

2

1

3. Develop problem-solving skills.

5

4

3

2

1

4. Develop ability to draw reasonable inferences from observations.

5

4

3

2

1

5. Develop ability to synthesize and integrate information and ideas.

5

4

3

2

1

6. Develop ability to think holistically: to see the whole as well as the parts.

5

4

3

2

1

7. Develop ability to think creatively.

5

4

3

2

1

8. Develop ability to distinguish between fact and opinion.

5

4

3

2

1

9. Improve skill at paying attention.

5

4

3

2

1

10. Develop ability to concentrate.

5

4

3

2

1

11. Improve memory skills.

5

4

3

2

1

12. Improve listening skills.

5

4

3

2

1

13. Improve speaking skills.

5

4

3

2

1

14. Improve reading skills.

5

4

3

2

1

15. Improve writing skills.

5

4

3

2

1

16. Develop appropriate study skills, strategies, and habits.

5

4

3

2

1

17. Improve mathematical skills.

5

4

3

2

1

18. Learn terms and facts of this subject.

5

4

3

2

1

19. Learn concepts and theories in this subject.

5

4

3

2

1

20. Develop skill in using materials, tools, and/or technology central to this subject.

5

4

3

2

1

21. Learn to understand perspectives and values of this subject.

5

4

3

2

1

22. Prepare for transfer or graduate study.

5

4

3

2

1

23. Learn techniques and methods used to gain new knowledge in this subject.

5

4

3

2

1

24. Learn to evaluate methods and materials in this subject.

5

4

3

2

1

25. Learn to appreciate important contributions to this subject.

5

4

3

2

1

26. Develop an appreciation of the liberal arts and sciences.

5

4

3

2

1

27. Develop an openness to new ideas.

5

4

3

2

1

28. Develop an informed concern about contemporary social issues.

5

4

3

2

1

29. Develop a commitment to exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

5

4

3

2

1

30. Develop a lifelong love of learning.

5

4

3

2

1

31. Develop aesthetic appreciation.

5

4

3

2

1

32. Develop an informed historical perspective.

5

4

3

2

1

33. Develop an informed understanding of the role of science and technology.

5

4

3

2

1

34. Develop an informed appreciation of other cultures.

5

4

3

2

1

35. Develop capacity to make informed ethical choices.

5

4

3

2

1

36. Develop ability to work productively with others.

5

4

3

2

1

37. Develop management skills.

5

4

3

2

1

38. Develop leadership skills.

5

4

3

2

1

39. Develop a commitment to accurate work.

5

4

3

2

1

40. Improve ability to follow directions, instructions, and plans.

5

4

3

2

1

41. Improve ability to organize and use time effectively.

5

4

3

2

1

42. Develop a commitment to personal achievement.

5

4

3

2

1

43. Develop ability to perform skillfully.

5

4

3

2

1

44. Cultivate a sense of responsibility for one’s own behavior.

5

4

3

2

1

45. Improve self-esteem/self-confidence.

5

4

3

2

1

46. Develop a commitment to one’s own values.

5

4

3

2

1

47. Develop respect for others.

5

4

3

2

1

48. Cultivate emotional health and well-being.

5

4

3

2

1

49. Cultivate an active commitment to honesty.

5

4

3

2

1

50. Develop capacity to think for oneself.

5

4

3

2

1

51. Develop capacity to make wise decisions.

5

4

3

2

1

4. Calculate the Results

5. Look at the Clustering in the Results.

a. Of the fifty-one goals, the total number that you identified as "essential" is:
.

What does this mean? Many of the college teachers are surprised by the number of "essential" goals they have identified in scoring their TGI responses. Some wonder, for example, whether eighteen "essential goals" are too many to accomplish in a fifteen-week semester; others ask themselves whether three might be too modest a target. Such large contrasts in total number of course goals often occur within departments, and even among faculty teaching parallel sections of the same course. The process of taking and scoring the TGI does not create such differences, of course, but it often makes them explicit to faculty for the first time.

b. Your "essential" goals are clustered in the following areas:

Cluster Number and Name

Goals
Included

Total Number of "Essential" Goals in Each Cluster

I

Higher-Order Thinking Skills

1-8

II

Basic Academic Success Skills

9-17

III

Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills

18-25

IV

Liberal Arts and Academic Values

26-35

V

Work and Career Preparation

36-43

VI

Personal Development

44-51

What does this mean? More interesting than the sheer quantity of "essential" teaching goals is their distribution across clusters - and the teaching priorities reflected by that distribution. By ranking the clusters in order of the number of "essential" items they contain, you will have a rough profile of your teaching priorities for one course.

c. Your total scores and average score for each goal cluster are as follows:

Cluster Number and Name

Goals Included

Sum of Goal Ratings for That Cluster

Your Cluster Scores

I

Higher-Order Thinking Skills

1-8

II

Basic Academic Success Skills

9-17

III

Discipline-Specific Knowledge and Skills

18-25

IV

Liberal Arts and Academic Values

26-35

V

Work and Career Preparation

36-43

VI

Personal Development

44-51

What does this mean? One way to gain insights into your teaching goals is to gauge the fit between your teaching priorities - as represented by the relative ranking of your course clusters - and the primary teaching role you selected in Step 2.